Predicting water retention of biochar-amended soil from independent measurements of biochar and soil properties

Yi, Susan; Chang, Naomi Y.; Imhoff, Paul T.

doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2020.103638

Cited by 44 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In fact, it is well recognized that the presence of unsuitable type of biochar or applied amount (due to either uncontrolled forest fires or deliberate application for improvement of soil quality) may cause soil repellency in such a way that affects the ability of soil in absorbing water, inhibiting microbial activity, altering filter, as well as storage, buffer, and transformation functions of the soils [72][73][74]. It is worth highlighting that up to now the only direct macroscopic way to measure wettability of a porous systems is via the evaluation of contact angles [75,76], although a new predictive, but yet to be confirmed, model recently appeared [77].…”

Section: Nmrd Evaluation By the Wettability Model: Application To Biomentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Fast Field-Cycling Setup: A Valid Tool for Soil Quality Investigation

Conte

Meo

2020

Agronomy

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Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques are largely employed in several fields. As an example, NMR spectroscopy is used to provide structural and conformational information on pure systems, while affording quantitative evaluation on the number of nuclei in a given chemical environment. When dealing with relaxation, NMR allows understanding of molecular dynamics, i.e., the time evolution of molecular motions. The analysis of relaxation times conducted on complex liquid–liquid and solid–liquid mixtures is directly related to the nature of the interactions among the components of the mixture. In the present review paper, the peculiarities of low resolution fast field-cycling (FFC) NMR relaxometry in soil science are reported. In particular, the general aspects of the typical FFC NMR relaxometry experiment are firstly provided. Afterwards, a discussion on the main mathematical models to be used to “read” and interpret experimental data on soils is given. Following this, an overview on the main results in soil science is supplied. Finally, new FFC NMR-based hypotheses on nutrient dynamics in soils are described

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Section: Nmrd Evaluation By the Wettability Model: Application To Biomentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Fast Field-Cycling Setup: A Valid Tool for Soil Quality Investigation

Conte

Meo

2020

Agronomy

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“…This assumption is reasonable at ψ <~−1 MPa since water is primarily retained on particle surfaces and within particle pores. In this case, a simple mass balance equation is used to obtain GWC m (Yi et al, 2020) 10.1029/2020WR027726…”

Section: Biochar-amended Soilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biochar may be applied for integrated strategies to build soil quality and increase productivity, enhance water quality and water cycling, and sequester carbon (Lehmann & Joseph, 2015). When biochar is added to soil for any purpose, it has the potential to change soil water retention (Imhoff & Nakhli, 2017; Lehmann & Joseph, 2015; Yi et al, 2020) and other processes mediated by water at and below PWP described above. While the effect of biochar on the wet range of the soil WRC ( ψ > ~−1.5 MPa) is well documented, knowledge about the impact of biochar on the dry end of the soil WRC and PWP is limited (Chen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models for Predicting Water Retention in Pyrogenic Carbon (Biochar) and Biochar‐Amended Soil at Low Water Contents

Nakhli

Imhoff

2020

Water Resources Research

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The dry end of the soil water retention curve (WRC) plays an important role in various hydrologic, solute transport, plant, and microbial processes. Despite increasing application of biochar as a soil amendment, knowledge about water retention in biochars and biochar-amended soils under dry conditions is lacking. Mechanistic models are presented to predict the WRC for biochars and biochar-amended soils at matric potential (ψ) <~−1 MPa. For biochars, the amount of water retained is linked to biochar surficial oxygen content and pore volume and surface area distributions. The WRC for soils at dry conditions is predicted using specific surface area. The WRC model for biochar-amended soils is the sum of the contributions of models for biochar and soil. The model's utility was examined for three natural soils and a uniform sand, a wood-based biochar, and 10 different combinations of these soils and biochar. The accuracy of the model for biochars was further tested for six other pyrogenic carbonaceous materials (PCMs). The models agreed well with experimental data: for the biochar and PCMs, soils, and biochar-amended soils, the root mean square error normalized to the range of water content was almost always <10%. The line of best fit for predicted versus measured gravimetric water content at permanent wilting point had slope of 0.935 ± 0.013 and a coefficient of determination of 0.997. The applicability of these models for different biochars, soils, and their mixtures is discussed.

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“…These intrapores can hold water at a plant available potential and increase soil water content directly (Liu, Dugan, et al., 2016; Liu, Wang, et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2017). Biochar intrapore connectivity, which is influenced by the porosity of the biochar itself due to feedstock and pyrolysis method, has been shown to increase WHC (Liu, Dugan, et al., 2016; Liu, Wang, et al., 2016; Yi et al., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water cost savings from soil biochar amendment: A spatial analysis

et al. 2020

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The United States agricultural industry contributed 992 billion dollars to GDP in 2015 and supports 11% of the country's employment (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2017). Agriculture is also responsible for 80% of US consumptive water each year (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2018). Concerns related to water scarcity highlight the importance of methods to reduce agricultural water use. As such, it is salient to constrain the extent to which innovations such as biochar soil amendment can provide benefits. Biochar is charcoal intentionally made for soil amendment. It is generally created by pyrolyzing organic materials, though there are large variations in feedstock, reactor

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Predicting water retention of biochar-amended soil from independent measurements of biochar and soil properties

Cited by 44 publications

References 52 publications

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Fast Field-Cycling Setup: A Valid Tool for Soil Quality Investigation

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Fast Field-Cycling Setup: A Valid Tool for Soil Quality Investigation

Models for Predicting Water Retention in Pyrogenic Carbon (Biochar) and Biochar‐Amended Soil at Low Water Contents

Water cost savings from soil biochar amendment: A spatial analysis

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